From Best Friend to Boyfriend (Hetaila, HongIce)

Chapter 32. We will meet again. End.

That day, it hadn't been a nightmare. Even if it was merely a dream, Leon found himself not being able to wake up.

The story that had been set for the rest of the year was a dark one. Leon found himself having to pick up the pieces in a town that was now infamous for the mass homicide of practically all its inhabitants. Only some had managed to survive, and in those few, neither Michelle nor Emil sat. The two of his closest friends damaged and broken as they were now buried in the ground. Well, Emil was. No one knew what had happened to Michelle's body, and Francis was truly devastated at the loss of not one, but two of his siblings.

Leon had overheard from whispers in the faculty staff that Matthew had gone missing too. They heard his body had been found floating in the river, a town away. How it got there was beyond the teen's comprehension.

It was during these days that Leon found himself helping out around the house more, travelling over to Arthur's and visiting the home both Francis and himself had made for one another. Their melancholic smiles and joyful frowns only reiterated the point that the newspapers were constantly crying. The town was a living tombstone, their home and lives altered by one mishap that Arthur had created. Everyday Leon would have to live with the image of Emil dying while at the same time have to live knowing that he was the last chance at a living legacy.

It was during these days that he found himself residing once more at his old mentor's home. Arthur Kirkland, a man directly linked to the crimes, murders, and evident sorrow that now brought the town to despair. Francis had left with Gilbert to visit the cemetery that was now overflowing with new corpses.

The awkwardness that came from the table setting was evidently radiating throughout the room was one that could not be ignored. Leon would patiently sip on his tea while Arthur sat adjacent - quick glances and the occasional comment on the weather would be their conversation.

"If I told you that there was more than one universe out there, by this point you would believe it, correct?" Arthur would suddenly burst out, causing Leon to tilt his head in curiosity. "Why? What do you, like, have in mind?" The boy inquired, causing Arthur to sigh slightly.

"I have realised, that in this life we have a predetermined pathway, something that controls us and for every version of ourselves: there is a new outcome, but it keeps similar characteristics to our last outcome. Almost like a pack of playing cards, we'll always have a Queen, King and Ace, but they'll be different each time be it when they are thrown down or their pattern." Arthur would explain, allowing Leon to keep the information locked away in his mind. Yet, the male knew what he was going to suggest. "I think our universe was an outlier: one that wasn't made to exist." The blond would sip his tea before glancing back at the

Taking this moment to pause and recollect, the younger male would glance down solemnly at the drink in his hand. "What do you, like, mean?"

"So many of us have died, and therefore I was wondering if it's for any reason?"

"Are you trying to suggest that we died in another place and that's why they all died now?" Taking the thought into consideration, a thought bubble of interest would pop into Leon's head.

"Opposite actually, I think it's because they were all supposed to be reborn."

The room turned silent. The two figures that sat in it were overshadowed by the imposing realisation that perhaps they were to die shortly too. Yet, something grew inside of Leon it was a thought of freedom: one that prompted him to glare over at the mentor whom couldn't comprehend the fact that he had just given Leon fuel to add to the burning fire of want.